Achieving sustainable cultivation of cassava Volume 1: Cultivation techniques
About this ebook
Dr Reinhardt Howeler, CIAT Emeritus; author in: Achieving sustainable cultivation of cassava Volume 1
Originating in South America, cassava is now grown in over 100 countries around the world. It is the third most important source of calories in the tropics after rice and maize. Its caloric value, as well as its ability to tolerate dry conditions and poor soils, makes it a key food security crop in developing countries, particularly in Africa. As demand for food grows, there is an urgent need to increase yields in the face of such challenges as climate change, threats from pests and diseases and the need to make cultivation more resource-efficient and sustainable.
Drawing on an international range of expertise, this collection focuses on ways of improving the cultivation of cassava at each step in the value chain, from breeding to post-harvest storage. Volume 1 starts by reviewing current issues facing cassava cultivation around the world before discussing methods for sustainable intensification such as rotations, intercropping and more efficient nutrient management.
Achieving sustainable cultivation of cassava Volume 1: Cultivation techniques will be a standard reference for agricultural scientists in universities, government and other research centres and companies involved in improving cassava cultivation. It is accompanied by Volume 2 which reviews breeding, pests and diseases.
About the author
Dr Clair Hershey is former Cassava Program Leader at the world-famous International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia. With a background in plant breeding, Dr Hershey has previously worked for the FAO and the Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) and was Editor of Plant Breeding News.
Dr. Fauquet is an international leader in plant virology including taxonomy, epidemiology, molecular virology, and in gene-silencing as an antiviral strategy. He co-founded the Global Cassava Partnership for the 21st Century (GCP21) in 2002, which he is now directing and whose goal is to improve cassava worldwide. Dr Fauquet has published more than 300 research papers in reviewed journals and books. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the American Phytopathological Society and a member of the St Louis Academy of Sciences. In 2007, Dr. Fauquet was knighted Chevalier de lâ Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Minister of High Education and Research.
